Matthew Nelson
Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates has received a six-month contract of an undisclosed value to design a small, low-Earth orbit satellite architecture to support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather forecasting mission.
ASTRA said Wednesday it will work with Lockheed Martin and Science Technology Corp. to explore a 12-unit CubeSat as the agency looks to advance the potential of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R constellation.
Bill Baker, senior vice president of data solutions at ASTRA, said the company aims to deliver a platform that would help the agency understand weather, ocean, climate and coastline changes.
The industry team will also examine imager concepts and the possibility of hosting microwave, infrared and GPS/GNSS sounders during the GEO-utilization of Common LEO Architecture for Weather study.
Scott Jensen, SVP of technology at ASTRA, will serve as principal investigator for the G-CLAW research project.
